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Eating of the Tree of Life, December 18
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:7
.
This message concerns all our churches. You can never employ your
faculty of hearing better than in hearkening to hear what the voice of God
speaks to you in His Word. There is a rich and abundant promise to those
who overcome. It is not enough to enter upon this warfare, we must pursue it
to the end. We must know nothing of yielding. We must fight the good fight
of faith to the very end. To the overcomer is promised the triumphal victory.
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
midst of the paradise of God.” Whatever was lost in the fall of Adam is more
than restored in redemption. He that sitteth on the throne saith, “Behold, I
make all things new” (
Revelation 21:5
).
Let us look closely and critically to ourselves. Are not the vows we
entered into at our baptism violated? Are we dead to the world and alive unto
Christ? Are we seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at
the right hand of God? Is the cable cut which anchored us to the eternal Rock?
Are we drifting with the current to perdition? Shall we make no effort to press
and urge our passage upstream? Let us not hesitate longer, but vigorously
apply the oars; and let us do our first works ere we make hopeless shipwreck.
It is our work to know our special failings and sins, which cause darkness
and spiritual feebleness, and quenched our first love. Is it worldliness? Is
it selfishness? Is it the love of self-esteem? Is it striving to be first? Is it
the sin of sensuality that is intensely active? Is it the sin of the Nicolaitans,
turning the grace of God into lasciviousness? Is it the misuse and abuse
of great light and opportunities and privileges, making boasted claims to
wisdom and religious knowledge, while the life and character are inconsistent
and immoral? Whatever it is that has been petted and cultivated until it has
become strong and overmastering, make determined efforts to overcome, else
you will be lost.—
The Review and Herald, June 7, 1887
.
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